"Toxic Hot Seat" Film Premieres in Maine in March

The Environmental Health Strategy Center is hosting the Maine premiere of the film, Toxic Hot Seat in Portland and Rockland at the end of the month. The Toxic Hot Seat website gives this description of the film:

TOXIC HOT SEAT follows a courageous group of firefighters and mothers, journalists and scientists, politicians and activists as they fight to expose the shadowy campaign of deception that left a toxic legacy in our homes and bodies — a campaign so cunning, it's taken nearly 40 years to unravel.

One of the lawmakers included in the film is Maine's former Speaker of the House, Hannah Pingree. That Environmental Health Strategy Center has this to say about the upcoming screenings in Maine:

Each screening will be followed by Q&A with filmmaker Kirby Walker, former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Hannah Pingree, Executive Director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center Mike Belliveau, flame retardant free furniture designer and owner of Endicott Home Furnishings Ross Endicott and other experts.
Admission is free, but seating is limited. See below to RSVP today for Portland or Rockland:

Saturday, March 29th at 7:30 PM
Space Gallery
538 Congress Street, Portland
Click here to RSVP

Sunday, March 30th at 2:00 PM
The Strand Theater
345 Main Street, Rockland
Click here to RSVP

Watch the [autoplay] trailer here on HBO website.

Showing of "Living Downstream: Chemicals & Cancer" Aug 7

The Environmental Health Strategy Center will be showing the film, Living Downstream, this Tuesday, August 7 from 7pm to 8:15pm at the Beam Classroom at Bowdoin College, 239 Maine St., Brunswick, Maine. Click here for a map.

EHSC says about the film:

Living Downstream depicts the powerful story of ecologist and cancer survivor Dr. Sandra Steingraber and her work to raise awareness about toxic chemicals in our environment and their impacts on public health. The film follows Steingraber's year-long journey across North America as she works to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links. After the film we'll discuss initiatives happening right here in Maine and nationally to prevent harm from toxic chemical exposure. The event is free, but organizers request RSVPs by email or phone 207-699-5799 so they know how many people to expect.

For further details, including a trailer for the film, visit the Living Downstream event page at EHSC.

How to Survive a Plague: Documentary of ACT-UP & TAG

Mike Reynolds offers an in-depth review of the forthcoming documentary, How to Survive a Plague, which he describes as "an intensely personal and authentic documentary about the early days of the AIDS epidemic."

Along with providing detail about the film's subject -- the raw energy, the intellectual rigors, the desperation to beat the system and the virus -- the review also covers the cinematic experience:

The film is edited beautifully, and the director, David France, was one of the first journalists to cover the AIDS crisis. Over 300 videotapes were used for the film, coming from the closets and attics of people involved in the movement and from the relatives of activists who died. The intimacy the video footage lends to the documentary cannot be understated; seeing an enraged Larry Kramer addressing activists during a disruptive meeting in which the Treatment and Drug Trial group split from the larger ACT UP was intense (the film’s title came from Kramer’s speech that day). This splinter group of elite activists went on to become the TAG, which would later be credited with spearheading major reforms both within the FDA and in the way drug trials are conducted.

If you were active in AIDS activism in the late '80s or early '90s, just reading Mike's review will bring back the energy and intense emotion of that era. Read the film review at Ability Maine. Please post comments on the review below! (You can also watch the trailer for the movie here.)